Can You Feel the Writing?

I have used a small sand box for several years to teach my children to form letters and numbers.  I stopped using this for my seven year old because I figured that he already knew them all and he just needed to practice writing.  Well, I was wrong.  He still needs to "get the feel" of how to write the right way!  

(The Anchor is a lefty)
 Writing in sand is multi-sensory which gives your brain more ways to remember and connect information.  You can feel, see, and even hear the letters forming.  With a pencil, there is an inanimate object between your hand and the actual letter you are writing.  While it is important for kids to master writing with a utensil, they need to first understand what the letter should look like.  

(Pretending to be asleep and snoring, "ZZzzzz")
As I have written in past posts, my seven year old can hardly tell the difference between any letter or number that is written correctly, backwards, or even upside down.  So I've brought out the sand box for him again.  I have him draw "trouble" letters and numbers over, and over, and over again.  For him, it's fun, and much easier than trying to wield a pen or pencil.  He's also getting a sense of how the letter "feels" which is making it a lot easier for him to transfer that information to a paper and pencil.  This year I have a small Tupperware with a thin layer of colored sand for each child.  I usually color code my boys so The Free One gets blue and The Anchor gets green.  You can buy the sand at almost any craft store, or online at www.orientaltrading.com.  You can even get glow in the dark sand from them.  Now how fun would that be?